Eid al-Ghadir

He calls them, (on) the day of Ghadir, their Prophet

in Khumm so hear (and heed) the Messenger"s call,
He said: "Who is your guide and leader? (mawlakum wa waliyyukum)"
They said, and there was no apparent blindness (clearly):
"Your God, our guide, and you are our leader
And you won"t find from among us, in this, any disobedient,"
He said to him: "Stand up O" Ali, for I am
pleased to announce you Imam and guide after me
So whomever I was his leader (mawla), then this is his leader
So be to him supporters in truth and followers,"
There he prayed: "Allah! Be a friend and guide to his follower
and be, to the one who is Ali"s enemy, an enemy"

Composed by Hassan ibn Thabit in Ghadir Khumm

The Farewell Pilgrimage

Ten years after the migration, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) ordered his close followers to call all the people in different places to join him in his last pilgrimage. On this pilgrimage he taught them how to perform the pilgrimage in a correct and unified form.

This was the first time that the Muslims with this magnitude gathered in one place in the presence of their leader, the Messenger of Allah. On his way to Makkah (Mecca), more than seventy thousand people followed the Prophet. On the fourth day of Dhu"l-Hijjah more than one hundred thousand Muslims had entered Makkah.

After completing his last pilgrimage (Hajjatul-Wada"), the Prophet was leaving Makkah toward Madinah, where he and the crowd of people reached a place called Ghadir Khumm (which is close to today"s al-Juhfah) [18th of Dhu"l-Hijjah of the year 10 AH (10 March 632 CE)].

It was a place where people from different provinces used to greet each other before taking different routes for their homes.

In this place, the following verse of the Qur"an was revealed:

"O Apostle! Deliver what has been sent down to you from your Lord; and if you don"t do it, you have not delivered His message (at all); and Allah will protect you from the people ..." (Qur"an 5:67)

The last sentence in this verse indicates that the Prophet was mindful of the reaction of his people in delivering that message but Allah informs him not to worry, for He will protect His Messenger from people.

Upon receiving the verse, the Prophet stopped on that place (the pond of Khum) which was extremely hot. Then he sent for all people who have been ahead in the way, to come back and waited until all pilgrims who fell behind, caught them up and gathered. He ordered Salman to use rocks and camel toolings to make a pulpit (minbar) so he could make his announcement. It was aroundnoon time in the first of the fall, and due to the extreme heat in that valley, people were wrapping their robes around their feet and legs, and were sitting around the pulpit, on the hot rocks.

On this day the Messenger of Allah gave them a long speech.

The following is a part of his speech which has been widely narrated by the Sunni narrators:

Then the Messenger of Allah declared:

"Do I not have more right over the believers than what they have over themselves?"
People cried and answered:
"Yes, O" Messenger of God."
The Prophet [s] held up "Ali"s hand and said:
"For whomever I am his Leader (

mawla

"Ali is his Leader

mawla

[In some narrations the word used was

wali

rather than

mawla

-with the same implication]

The Prophet continued:

"O" God, love those who love him, and be hostile to those who are hostile to him."

These were the key parts of the speech of the Prophet. There are also more detailed versions of this sermon which are recorded by many Sunni authorities.

Immediately after the Prophet finished his speech, the following verse of the Qur"an was revealed:

"Today I have perfected your religion and completed my favour upon you, and I was satisfied that Islam be your religion." (Qur"an 5:3)

After his speech, the Messenger of Allah asked everybody to give the oath of allegiance to "Ali [a] and congratulate him. Among those who did so was "Umar b. al-Khattab, who said:

"Well done Ibn Abi Talib! Today you became the Leader.